Life on the Highway: Cross Country Road Trippin'
I think I'm adding more things to my bucket list than crossing them off these days but a cross country road trip is on most Americans' bucket list and I did it! This post is a few weeks after the road trip because I'm finally getting settled in Utah after 3 weeks on the road. Here's the breakdown of the past three weeks:
At the end of September, I had the car in DC packed to the brim including a roof carrier and there wasn't an inch of space left. After saying goodbye to my DC soul sister on a Friday evening, I left Arlington, Virginia around 4:30am that Saturday and started the 9 hour drive to Massachusetts. I had to drop off my last carload of stuff at my parent's basement, pick up the pup, and say my farewells to the family. I had an amazing welcoming crew there help me unload, re-organize, and prep for the cross country trip. Let me take a moment and say thank you to my family for always supporting my wild adventures. From jumping out of planes, to living abroad and taking crazy leaps of faith, they have always supported my wild side and for that, I'm so grateful. Thank you for supporting me regardless of my crazy decisions.
Once I got my dose of home in and finished work for the week, I packed my Mazda, roof carrier, gave the pup a pep talk, and hit the road to New Jersey to pickup a friend on Thursday evening. The leaves were starting to change so it really started to feel like fall and made for a beautiful drive through New England. Harlie had the most space to get comfy, and found creative ways to sleep the whole time.
Day 1 took about 6 hours and once I arrived we finished packing the car with my new co-pilot's stuff and it was a giant game of Tetris. I wish we recorded the process but the pictures below get the gist of it. We barely slept from excitement but were on the road as scheduled at 6am the next morning heading to our Day 2 destination, Illinois. It took us 11 hours to cross 4 state lines and we alternated driving every time we stopped for gas. This ride was a doozy but we strategically planned the longest leg of the trip for our first day together so that the rest of the consecutive days in the car wouldn't feel as long. We had a a few human moments that make for great memories. One of them being, I almost sped right through a toll not realizing there was a gate that had to be lifted once we paid. I was just testing my brakes...they work!
Day 3 we let ourselves sleep in but were back on the road around 8:30am to start the drive to Omaha, Nebraska. We knew this wasn't going to be the most scenic drive but we did have something to look forward to, the largest truck stop in the world in Iowa. There was an entire semi truck in the building and the place made the truck look small. There was also a store full of truck parts and a museum among the multiple restaurants and other convenience stores in the building. I can see why this place is a home away from home for truckers.
Our human moment Day 3 was that I thought I was taking a picture of the Iowa boarder sign but apparently I captured an epic shot of my banana in the snack bag, so we had to turn around and cross the bridge again to re-capture this moment. We crossed that bridge 3 times just to get a picture of the Iowa sign, but we wanted to capture each state sign for a highlight video. I deleted the picture of the banana but I should've kept it for this blog. Here's the magnificent Iowa picture.
After crossing 2 state boarders on our drive, we scoped out Omaha for the night by exploring the Lewis & Clark National Historical Trail and the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge which crosses the Missouri River and divides Nebraska and Iowa so you can be in two states at once! Harlie was thrilled to be out of the car and exploring with us.
Looking back on the first leg of the journey, I can't believe I drove cross-country: 12 states in 4 days! Cross that off the bucket list! We took the northern route which doesn't have as many must-see stops along the way unless you want to take a few days to veer off the route and explore but we were trying to cram it into a weekend so I wouldn't have to take many days off of work. I want to save my PTO for days when I can actually explore rather than just drive. Mission accomplished! I only took one day off of work and our trip went according to plans. Sending a big thank you to my co-pilot - I couldn't have done it without you!
Next post will be about our pit stop in Moab, Utah for leg 2 of the journey: Denver to Utah.
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